By Sean Carney
PRAGUE--Czech car maker Skoda Auto AS Friday said it has reached
an agreement with labor unions centered on an across-the-board wage
increase and other bonuses, thus averting a strike.
The company, a unit of Volkswagen AG (VLKAY), will increase
wages by 3.5% while giving them a one-time 4,000 koruna ($157.8)
bonus.
The new wage agreement takes retroactive effect from April 1 and
expires at the end of March 2016.
The two sides also came to a new agreement on flextime work to
enable continued employment in times of fluctuating workloads.
The company said it has also agreed to additional variable
bonuses that when combined with other perks can reach CZK25,000 per
employee for their contribution to last year's success -- the
company produced more than one million cars in 2014, an annual
record. This amount would be paid out in May.
All possible combined bonuses paid this year can reach an
average of CZK60,000, the company added.
Unions in recent weeks went on strike alert over wages and
briefly protested in front of all three of the company's main Czech
production facilities.
Skoda Auto is the Czech Republic's largest exporter and a major
employer. At the heart of the country's key automotive
manufacturing sector, it serves as a bellwether of the central
European country's economic health.
Write to Sean Carney at sean.carney@wsj.com